Dojji

This wouldn't be a pleasant surprise. THis would be an outright miracle, the odds of which I rate right around those of the entire Muslim world, en masse, publicly admitting they've been deluded barbarians for the past 800 years, suddenly deciding to start offering tribute in Gold to the United States and bowing 5 times a day to the Statue of Liberty rather than Mecca. I'll set my sights on some implausible things -- I don't think you guys will ever let me live down my manlove for Lars Anderson for example -- so when I balk at the odds of a thing happening, you know it's way out there. I don't care how popular the idea is, crackpot theory is crackpot.

Sigh. WHY do people keep DOING this? Stanton is young and cheap right now. Until he becomes older and more expeensive, he doesn't get traded unless he literally, and I do mean LITERALLY, shoots his way out of town. As in himself and his bodyguards bursting out through roadblocks set by the Dade County police under a hail of fire from the Florida National Guard.

You don't always signj a guy because you want to use him yourself. Signing a guy because you found him, you can sign him cheaply, and he has potential value, is just fine, nothing wrong with it. I'm gonna miss Iggy. I like defense up the middle, I think it's crucial. BUT the Sox FO didn't surprise me one bit here, and I can see what they're thinking.

I don't think it was an over the top move per se, at least not with the up to 2 years of control we gained over Peavy. i'm sure a chance to go over the top crossed Cherington's mind, don't get me wrong, but this is a medium-term move, not a short-term one.

If I'm Cherington, I can't count on Buchholz for anything next year. He can't figure into the planning because figuring him in will make the plan fail. Look at the history. Every year other than 2010 he has been Injured, Ineffective, or a combination of the two for most of the season. I don't think Buchholz proved he can be the ace of the staff. The ace of the staff needs to be the best pitcher of course, but a real ace is also on the mound for 32 starts and more than 200 innings. Buchholz hasn't even showed the potential to do either one, so I don't call him the ace or even the #1 starter, on that basis alone, regardless of the level of skill he demonstrates when he actually is on the mound. Put simply, an ace is dependable. He's dependable to make his start, to go deep into games, and to dominate frequently. Buchholz fails at the first pass. And that has to feature into the GM's thinking because he's not an idiot.

This thread has gone to a very strange place.

I don't disagree with that assessmet, but that mostly comes from Workman doing his job very well in his callups. I wouldn't want to lose Workman in any trade to be sure. Even if he's destined for the pen in the long run, he's shown a real cool head and some nice stuff so far. He's worked out of some jams with self-confidence and poise, and he hasn't been particularly lucky to be pitching as well as he is. He's ahead of some higher profile starters in the pitching depth right now and he's earned it. I'd like to keep hold on him because he looks like he might have the right idea about what it takes to stay in the big leagues. We could use a good #4 right now and Workman has made himself a candidate. Besides, I love the fact that he's actually living up to his surname. He'll probably hear it every day for his entire career until he's sick to death of it, and so will we, but the job Workman has been doing really has been workmanlike.

Bud Norris is a guy I wouldn't mind seeing come here. I doubt it turns out that way though.

Mark Melancon was such an indispensible part of the 2012 juggernaut though!

Oh, what have I just started?

I think there's levels of dickishness. We're all going to superficially resemble dicks from time to time, but if someone is schlonging along for most of his time here, it might be time to tell him to put it away.

I almost understood that. Someone needs to either drink a little more or a little less. More seriously, since I (finally!) got a job about a year ago,* I haven't been here as often, mostly to try to pick up news on the team. I'm at work during all non-day games, and when I am home, I'm tired or looking to unwind, not get into arguments. Working evenings sucks, but hey, it's work, and that's a lot better than I used to be. I'll still out with the odd crackpot theory, but I'm definitely nowhere near as active a force here as I used to be. *one year and 6 days. It's like an alcoholic that's trying to go clean, I know how many days it was since I last drew food stamps.

I only agree to a point. I'm not convinced the team sees Buchholz as a key player to the greater plan going forward anymore. I think Peavy is a patch for this season and a potential Buchholz replacement going forward. Quite frankly, the question everyone seems to be avoiding is what this long string of significant injuries means for Buchholz going forward. He just can't seem to throw two solid seasons in a row, and pitchers that have that problem don't tend to stay effective even when they are on the mound -- either they try to make a bad adjustment to their mechanics in an effort to stay healthy, or they simply lose their mechanics to enforced inactivity. That's right on the cusp of being THE defining issue for Buchholz and people are so focused on this year at the moment -- because they should be, we are right in contention -- that they're letting themselves whistle past the graveyard in terms of the broader significance of the problem. I'm legitimately concerned that this year, or one of the next two, are going to be Buchholz' last in a big league uniform. Fragile starters don't keep getting chances, and even when they do, they eventually start failing them long before they "should" in a standard career arc. If there's a rationale to going out to getting a starting pitcher who has up to 2 years left on his deal, it's that. Peavy is no Iron Horse himself, not anymore, but he's more likely to make more than 27 starts in a given year than Buchholz is at this point.

if we can only accept the criticism we ask for, there's a word for that. "Oversensitive," I believe it is. Feel free to correct me if you feel I'm wrong, since I'm sure you will do anyway. If I took criticism anywhere nearly as bad as you do I'd be long gone, since that seems to be all I get around here.

See what I mean? You can't take either criticism or a friendly warning without bristling. Anything directed at you that is not obsequiously complimentary gets challenged as if I insulted your mother. Honestly I'm surprised your hackles aren't completely worn out at this point. Do you bring anything to this forum other than a bad temper and a snarky tone?

Don't you have a Valium you should be taking? I don't have the patience to deal with you. It's one of the reasons I've avoided calling you out to this point. You have a natiral talent for generating shouting matches whenever you materialize, and I don't have the time or the temperament to keep shouting long enough to stop you from declaring victory. Well, that and the old adage: "don't wrestle a pig in a mudhole, you'll both get filthy, but the pig will enjoy it a lot more. I'm not going down to your level. Instead, I'll try the revolutionary tactic of inviting you up to mine. A little weird on an internet forum, but I'm all about weird ideas after all. I'm telling you this for your own good. For the sake of the collective blood pressure of the entire forum, please cool it.

That must be scary for you considering how often I'm way out on a limb.

Please don't saddle us with Young just to keep him from the Yankees. Please. Let the Yankees take this one. It'll turn into a poison pill, I guarantee it. We do have options. If Snyder and WMB can't hold down the job, we can call up Bogaerts. Failing that, Cecchini's in range for a callup considering his performance at AA and the team's general philosophy. Either one deserves a chance before we clog the team up with another declining overpriced vet.

Please, do get over yourself. I try not to get involved in these tet-a-tetes, and I'm no best-buddy of a700, but you seem to enjoy these fights to the point that you appear to be going out of your way to manufacture one. I consider that reprehensible. Back off and knock it off. Keeping a700 honest is one thing, antagonizing him is quite another.

Obviously not thrilled with this. I don't hate the trade per se, I honestly think that if Cherington had decided to get Peavy, he did it right, but I hate the decision to get Peavy. The huge salary commitment makes me anxious and I don't trust Peavy to hold up.

I wouldn't deal a top prospect for a player who also required that level of commitment in money and years.

Yes, the Red Sox medical staff has some questions to answer about why Ellsbury's repeated attempts to retake the field were constantly sidetracked by further medical issues. He spent a lot of time in 2010 in particular reinjuring himself because they kept clearing him to go back out there while he still had fractured ribs. Some people heal particularly quickly, some heal slowly. Ellsbury seems to be a slow healer. It happens. At least he's not as bad as Rocco Baldelli.

I argue for trades with the Royals because I know their roster and we match up well for a trade. It's not like any of the alternative proposals I've seen (Peavy and Garza again? Really guys, how many years in a row has it been?) have been any better than the options I've put forward.

And that was literally his only fully effective season in the last 5 years. He had a good half year in 2009 but then got hurt. The other two years were miserable. He's pitching to a mediocre level in a softer division this year. I'm not seeing all the rage to get this guy -- I'm sorry I'm just not. If we want a guy who's capable of great things, but inconsistent in performance when he's even on the field at all, we don't need to trade for that -- Clay Buchholz fills that niche nicely. The fact that both times Peavy made the playoffs even in his prime, he imploded spectacularly, doesn't exactly help my opinion here. So sure, great 2012. Fully noted. Wonderful even. If I'm trading talent for a guy and clogging up my roster and salary space for 2 more years I want more than a 25% chance that he's going to be able to do his job, thanks.

I fear self-inflicted wounds more than I fear any other AL team.